Rays game postponed; Shields starts Thursday

UPDATE, 5:09: The Rays will keep their rotation in order, so James Shields will move back a day and start Thursday against the Twins, with Wade Davis going Friday, Jeff Niemann on Saturday and Jeremy Hellickson on Sunday.

The early decision on the rainout allowed the Rays to make an earlier exit from Boston, with travel director Jeff Ziegler arranging for a Delta charter to get them out by 8:30 p.m. and home by 11 - a much more appealing arrival time than the usual 3-4 a.m. after a night game in Boston.

LHP J.P. Howell looked sharp in his 26-pitch batting practice session in Port Charlotte on Wednesday, and will throw the second of three planned sessions on Saturday at the Trop. After his third, he will start a minor-league rehab and remains on target to return by mid-May. He missed all of last season and had surgery on his shoulder.

DEVELOPING: So much for the improved forecast, the Rays game has been postponed.

No word yet on a makeup date, but the Rays come back, on Aug. 16-17 and on Sept. 15-18.

Presumably the Rays will just push their pitchers back, so James Shields would open the homestand on Thursday against the Twins, with Wade Davis, Jeff Niemann and Jeremy Hellickson working the next three games.

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